A Depart From Normality
by Lywick
Summary: Laura is just your average 16 year old. She has band practice on weekends, friends, and of coarse, an annoying little brother who can't stop talking about that Avatar world. But when she is taken from her life of comfort and thrust into this new reality, Laura will have to find a courage she she never knew she had in order to make it home.


Laura smiled as the sun warmed her skin. She was lying on the ground, hair sprawled around her and as she breathed in the fresh summer air she couldn't think of how anything could be more peaceful. Closing her eyes, she smiled, listening as a bird's song rang through the air.

And of coarse, it all had to be ruined by her brother.

"Laura! You said you would take me to the waterfall!" Her twelve-year-old brother cried, running a fast as he could to where she was laying.

Sighing, she rose to her feet, brushing grass off her legs as she did so. It was silly for her to have forgotten her promise anyway.

About a mile away from their house, stood one of the most breathtaking sights she had ever laid eyes on. There, hidden among the forest was a waterfall, and at the basin was a shallow pool, perfect for swimming. Of coarse the trip to said waterfall was a hazardous one. It was located in the middle of a gorge, and while it was easy to get to the bottom of the cliff, it was something she would never trust her brother to do on his own.

"All right, all right. We'll go right now. Do you have everything?" She asked, pulling her dirty blond hair into a pony-tail.

"Yep" He said nodding, indicating the bag on his back. "Come on, its hot! I want to go swimming!"

And she had to admit. It _was_ hot. Perspiration dotted her brow, and she wiped it off with the back of her hand.

"Okay, just let me get my hair brush" She said, turning around back towards the house. She was _not_ going to finish swimming and then have to deal with a nest of tangled hair when she got back home.

"But I have it already! Come on, let's go!" Her brother whined, waving the purple brush at her. Smiling and shaking her head Laura ventured to where her brother was, chuckling at the way he bounced on his feet.

"You think of everything, don't you brainiac?" She said, ruffling his short blond hair. "Just make sure you stay close to me, I don't want you to get lost"

Her brother huffed as they walked into the woods, doing his best to evade his sister hand. "I don't know why I can't go by myself. I mean I'm practically thirteen."

"Of coarse you are" She replied with a grin, holding a branch over her head for her brother to pass through. "You're only shy by about eight months."

"Exactly!" He cried "See, I'm plenty old enough. I know exactly where the waterfall is. Why does Mom think I need a stupid 16-year-old to help me?"

"Hmm. Maybe because every time you go into the woods, it always ends with you panicking, and me having to run in there to find you, and help you get back? You are really lucky our cell phones have good service"

"Oh that proves nothing. Hey look at that!" He cried pointing at an oddly shaped rock lying on a bed of moss. "It looks almost like an arrow. It sorta reminds me of the one Aang has on his forehead." The rock was small, easily able to fit in the palm of his hand and really did look like an arrow, though a cartoon one at that. It was odd really; it had to have been carved. There was no way a rock could form like that naturally.

"Who?" she asked, taking it from his hand and rubbing her fingers on its smooth surface.

"You know, that cartoon me and dad watch on Saturday mornings. The one with the bald kid?"

Laura racked her brains trying to figure out what he was talking about. She was never home on Saturdays, marching band and drama club usually got in the way of that. In reality Laura didn't watch that much television at all.

Sighing exasperatedly, her brother took out his phone, skimming through the pictures until he found the one he was looking for. Only her brother would be so obsessed with a show that he would have a picture of the characters on his phone.

"Here" he said, making her bend down so she could see. "That's Aang" he said pointing at the orange-clothed boy in the middle, with a blue arrow on his head.

Surrounding him where three other kids. "And that's katara and Sokka," he said pointing to the two kids garbed in blue. "And that's Toph" gesturing at the last girl in green.

Looking at the rock in her hand she had to admit that it _did_ look exactly like the arrow. But then again, it also looked like a normal cartoon arrow. Keeping her thoughts to herself however, she handed the rock back to her brother.

"You're right. You should keep it" She replied, smiling as he placed it in his pocket and ventured of to examine the bark of a nearby tree.

And so their expedition continued on, the silence of the forest punctuated each time Laura's brother found something interesting. It was a nice way to spend time with her brother and Laura found the forest very peaceful. She always did. There was something about the fresh woody smell, and the sunlight that gleamed through the trees that always made her feel happy. Soon enough a break was found in the foliage and the magnificent sight of the waterfall appeared. Gallons upon gallons of water streamed off the cliff's edge, the sun creating a beautiful shimmer as it did.

""Yay we're finally here!" her brother exclaimed, quickly bounding down the cliffs' path to the bottom of the waterfall.

"Be careful Nathan!" she cried, finally breathe again once he safely got to the bottom at the water's edge.

Taking a more sensible amount of time, Laura went down the path, taking note of each loose rock and making sure to hold onto the side of the cliff. While the fall wouldn't be able to kill a person, it could cause serious harm.

Finally though she was able to reach the bottom, and even though she had seen it more than a hundred times by now, the sight of the powerful waterfall still was an amazing sight. She was distracted from the sight however as a wave of water splashed her in the face.

Sputtering and glaring at the sight of her brother in the water, she quickly took off her shorts and tank top, to reveal the pink one-piece below.

"You're gonna get it now!" She cried as she dived into the pool, quickly swimming to Nathan and began one of the most horrific tickle-torture sessions in existance. Sputtering with laughter, her brother quickly swam away and they began to lounge, the cool water a relief after the mile long trek.

"Laura look! I'm a water bender!" her brother cried as he made waves with his hands, splashing Laura in the process.

"You really like that show, don't you?" She asked wryly.

"Of coarse! And guess what? The third season's first episode is premiering this Friday. I just can't believe that Zuko would betray his Uncle Iroh like that. And I really hope that Aang will be okay too after Katara healed him. I just can't believe that the season ended like that!"

"You do realize that I have no idea what you're talking about, right?" Laura questioned her brother wryly.

"Yeah, it's still awesome though." He replied shrugging. Changing the topic Nathan swam far away from her yelling "Marco!"

Finally they left the water, hands pruned and hair sopping wet as they dried themselves off and began to change out of their bathing suits. Nathan began to bound off to the cliff's pathway, no concern whatsoever to his slowly moving sister.

"Wait Nathan!" She yelled as she looked over the area, making sure that they weren't missing anything. Spying something shining near the rock they had left their bag at, Laura ventured towards it, seeing nothing other than the arrow shaped rock her brother had found.

"Hey Nathan do you still want the rock?" She asked over her shoulder, bending down to pick it up. The moment she touched it though, a bright light began to emit from it. And no matter what she tried to do she couldn't let go of it. The last thing she saw was her brother's horrified face as the world disappeared around her.

O~O

She had often hear that when you died, you where supposed to be able to see the light. What would at first seem peaceful was in actuality the farthest thing from it. The light glared in her retina; so blindingly painful that even closing her eyes couldn't mute it. She wanted to light to turn off, she wanted it to go away.

Finally, after what seemed like years, the light began to fade away until it disappeared completely. Head pounding, Laura kept her eyes closed, even the slightest opening of them causing a mind numbing headache. Finally, the pain in her head began to subside, and Laura opened her eyes with caution. Only to begin blinking rapidly with incredulity.

She was in lying the middle of a frozen wasteland! The biting cold gripped her and she immediately clung to her arms, desperately trying to conserve her warmth as fear began to overwhelm her.

She had somehow been transported to the freezing landscape, and she immediately thought of her brother. Had he followed her? Was he somewhere along the tundra right now, the small body shivering in fear as each gale of wind pierced his skin? She looked around herself, feeling a bit of relief once she couldn't spot his blond tuff of hair anywhere around her.

Maybe he hadn't accompanied her. Maybe he was back at the waterfall right now, safe and healthy. A new gust of wind broke her concentration as she began to cling to her body even tighter. Here she was, in such foreboding conditions, wearing nothing but the shorts and tank top she had initially walked to the waterfall with. She knew enough about biology to know that if she didn't find shelter and a pair of sensible clothing soon, she would be doomed. Hypothermia was just messy like that.

How had she gotten here in the first place though? All she could remember was touching that odd rock and a white light. Had the rocked somehow transported her here? Fingers beginning to loose their warmth, she fumbled with the rock in her hand, examining at ever angle in an attempt to discover the answers to this mystery. There seemed nothing out of the ordinary about it, other than its remarkable reflective surface that had made her aware of it in the first place. Chuckling grimly, Laura thought of the portkeys in the Harry Potter books. Random objects that could take a person anywhere in the world, only by touching them. Of coarse they seemed amazing when you imagined being able to travel to Britain in less than one second. Being tossed unwillingly into frozen landscape sort of made the idea of portkeys less remarkable.

Sighing Laura placed the object in her shorts' pocket. She wasn't going to get any answers from it now. Suddenly she became aware of a damp feeling on her bottom. _Great idea Laura, just lounge around in the snow, its not like you're going to get _wet_ or anything._

Doing her best to maintain her balance, Laura shakily got to her feet. She shivered as she rose, her arms covered with so many goose bumps that it was almost funny. Wiping at her damp shorts, Laura looked around the horizons, trying to find any sign of civilization she could. Planes of white greeted her, and Laura was about to loose all hope when off in the distance she spotted a small column of smoke rising into the air. Immediately the euphoria died down however as she realized that the smoke was probably about five miles away. How would she be able to survive the journey there without even boots?

It was hopeless, but that didn't mean she was going to give up. Gripping her shoulders and assuming a hunchbacked position, she began the slow journey to the billowing smoke.

O~O

God really hated her didn't he? She had to have been walking for almost half an hour. Each step was getting harder and harder to take. Her muscles screamed in protest each timed she moved a leg forward, the pain getting so intense sometimes, that she had to wait a few minutes before moving again. She had already lost all feeling in her toes and hands, her attempts at keeping her arms warm resulting in loosing precious heat from said appendages.

And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, that darn pillar of smoke started moving. Apparently it hadn't been a house's smoke, and if that tiny black dot was any indication, it seemed to be a ship. A ship that was getting smaller and smaller as the seconds went by. She even swore she had seen a cyclone of water rising against the ship. Great, now she had to add hallucinations on top of her growing list of worries.

What could she do now? Maybe the ship had stopped off at some port and she would be able to find civilization still. Laura tried to keep the feeling of hopelessness from overcoming her. She _had_ to keep going. If not for herself then for Nathan she had to go on. She had to figure out a way to get out of this frozen wasteland and get back home. And her only hope was that small village, if it even existed. It would be sure to have a phone right? Or maybe even a telegraph. Did those things still even exist? She had tried to use her own cell phone, but apparently her phone didn't have coverage in the Antarctic.

But she had to find some one to contact her home and right now, that village, or igloo, or whatever existed in the next few miles was her only hope. She had to get through this, and she would, right?

O~O

It was already starting to get harder to concentrate and Laura frequently found herself veering off into another direction, her mind too tired to keep on a steady course. She was exhausted, and every step resulted in a new wave of shivers. They attacked her body, her teeth clenching together so hard that she feared she might break them before this ordeal was over. The smoke was gone by now and had been for the past few minutes. In fact, without it guiding her, she wasn't even sure if she was going the right way. She thought she had corrected her path whenever she veered off, but now, examining the identical snow dunes around her, there was no way she could be certain.

Ice clung to her eyelashes, and soon the desperate emotions began to boil over, tears running down her face as she frantically looked around for anything familiar. It was impossible! She was never going to get out of this alive. She might as well just lie down in the snow and accept the fact. The tears began to pour down her face even harder as she thought of never seeing her brother again. Never seeing her parents, her friends. She was freaking sixteen years old! This wasn't something that was supposed to happen to her! She bitterly smiled as she thought of the trip she and her friends where supposed to go on latter that night. An ice cream parlor, a bit ironic wasn't it?

Gazing around once more Laura finally began to admit defeat defeat. There was no way she was going to find-

Laura stopped short as she looked across the wide blue sky. Right there! Right in front of her, she saw a black dot getting closer and closer. A plane! Maybe it would see her. She definitely stood out against the white snow in her blinding neon pink tank top and jean shorts. All she had to do was get its attention.

Ignoring the improbability of the whole situation, Laura found new strength in her limbs as she jumped up and down, waving her hands and shouting until her voice was hoarse. The plane lumbered closer and closer to where she was.

Except…was that a plane? If it was she had never seen one like it. It had to be about half as wide as it was long, and…was that a face painted onto it?

Yes, it was a face, and an arrow had been painted onto the aircraft's forehead as well. … An arrow? A hand quickly flew to her pocket. Where were all of these arrows coming from? But there were more pressing matters, the name one being getting rescued. Laura turned her attention back to the craft.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed and her hands flew to her head in protection. The thing was coming right for her! Too scared to even run, Laura watched horrified as the creature flew closer and closer, steadily loosing elevation.

She had never seen anything like it. The gigantic head got closer and closer and as it did, Laura was even able to see that whatever it was even had six feet. It even had two horns on the side of its head! It had to be an animal, but Laura lost all hope of trying to figure out how it flew without wings. The only thing she could do was stare wide eyed as the creature came speeding toward her, mouth open wide. Great, even after surviving this long she was now going to be eaten by some mythical beast.

The creature flew over her and landed. Laura sped around trying to frantically think of what she could do to scare it off. But seriously, what hope did she have of scaring that thing off? It was ten times her size!

Laura stared at the monster, but started to calm only slightly when she saw three people on its back. Two of them were dark skinned and it seemed as though it was pretty easy to face the cold when you where garbed in blue fur parkas. The other, a light skinned kid seemed to be able to deal with it as well, even though his orange robes seemed rather thin.

Just as she was about to calm - those kids where ridding the beast so it couldn't be that dangerous right? – the orange-garbed skin restarted her heart again. He just jumped ten feet in the air, just to get off the beast! How in the world had he done that?

Watching astounded as the kid gracefully landed on the snow, Laura began to feel faint. This was all too much. Doing her best to gain her bearings, Laura attempted to move towards them… only to find herself staring up at the sky.

"She's so cold! Hurry get her in these furs!"

"Do you know who she is?"

"… she wearing that?"

"I… Sokka…we have to … her"

"… golden hair… odd… nation…?"

"…back…tribe …warm… Aang"

"Nathan" she croaked. There was something very odd going on. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew. But her efforts at coming to a conclusion where put on hold as her eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier. And she soon she succumbed to the heavy feeling, visions of blue arrows and blond hair in her dreams.


End file.
